East Village: TKettle owner Andy Pan is still waiting for his partner BBQ Chicken to open, but “it’s killing me softly,” he says.
[Eat for Victory/VV]
Little Italy: Send a mixed signal to your love this Valentine’s Day with a candy ring from Papabubble. [TONY]
Lower East Side: Tomorrow night at Suba is a pata negra feast, which includes dishes made with “Ossabaw Island hogs, the ‘long lost cousin of the Pata Negra’” paired with Spanish wines. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Midtown East: Initial reactions to Adour are already mostly positive, but no one else has noticed the specially reserved handbag seating, yet. [Eater]
Rockefeller Center: On Friday from 3:30 to 6 p.m., Morrell is hosting a tasting of La Caravelle Grand Cru to celebrate the Champagne’s ten-year anniversary. [Snack]

Remember our news that BBQ Chicken, Korea’s leading fried chicken chain, was coming to St. Marks Place and aiming to move past McDonald’s in worldwide ubiquity? That goal now seems just a smidge ambitious, because after two months the chicken has yet to hit the olive oil. We were worried the employees had been held back at Chicken University, but it seems the problems lie elsewhere. “They’ve been having trouble with the gas for the chicken,” a counter person tells us. “[The opening] will probably be about two weeks, but they’ve been saying that for about a week so I’m not sure.” In the meantime, there’s always that decidedly not health-conscious BBQ at the end of the block.
Update: Well, there’s this, at least— The BBQ Chicken on Seventh Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets is up and oiling, as our photographer Melissa Hom discovered during her fried chicken odyssey.
Earlier:Korea’s Favorite Chicken Chain Invades, Bubble-Tea War Is Brewing

Korea’s largest fast-food chain, BBQ Chicken, which has 2,500 stores there (a 20 percent market share) and is apparently on a mission to overtake McDonald’s in worldwide ubiquity by the year 2020, is hitting St. Marks Place this Friday and opening three other stores in the city— two on Northern Boulevard (at 150 Place and 147th Street) and one on Seventh Avenue near FIT According to Andy Pan, franchiser of the St. Marks location, the store’s employees have been thoroughly trained in the craft of frying drumsticks, teriyaki sticks, chicken nuggets, and the like in olive oil, the company’s trademark. “We sent each manager back to Korea to the Chicken University to get educated.” That’s right— BBQ has a Chicken University.
PREV1NEXT